The best Football Matches ever played since 2000 – Honorable Mentions
By Jim James
The 21st century so far has provided some excellent games. It’s provided the best rivalry to ever grace football, the greatest player to play in it, and it has been a superb just over 20-year stretch so far. This is the honorable mentions in my list of the 15 greatest matches to ever have been played. Now, keep this in mind now and in the future, I did only start watching football 7 years ago, so this list will have a lot of recency bias, and there were many all-time classics I had to leave off the list and honorable mentions, but here are a few that did make it. Enjoy.
Honorable Mentions
2022 World Cup Quarterfinals: Argentina 2-2 Netherlands (Argentina win 4-3 on Penalties)
This match featured perhaps the strangest H2H of all time: Leo Messi, who at the time was 3 wins away from cementing his GOAT status, and Wout Weghorst, who at the time was on loan at Besiktas from Championship side Burnley and came on in the 78th minute on a yellow having received one from the bench.
The match saw 16 yellow cards from referee Mateu Lahoz, and saw Leo Messi lucky to not be booked a second time for a handball in the midfield. The first goal was scored by Nahuel Molina from a Leo Messi pass that was surely the best of the tournament, nutmegging Nathan Ake on the way to a two-touch finish by Molina.
Then, deep into the second half, Marcos Acuña drew a penalty after a rash challenge by Dumfries and Messi converted. It was to be an easy stroll to the Semi Finals for Messi’s men. However, then came on Wout Weghorst. 5 minutes after coming on, Steven Berghuis produced his own pass of the tournament contender as it was cushioned neatly on Wout Weghorst’s head to pull one back. The notion of an uneasy finished was enforced after the two sides devolved to a brawl after Leandro Paredes pulled a nasty challenge on Virgil Van Dijk and kicked the ball into the Netherlands bench.
After all the second half delays, the referee produced a somewhat excessive 10 added minutes and the Netherlands kept piling on the pressure and in the 11th minute of added time, the Dutch used a genius free kick strategy, Teun Koopmeiners playing a pass under the wall to Wout Weghorst who dinked it past Martinez and equalized.
Part of the criteria for determining great games is the emotional value, and after this free kick I was on the floor in shock and disbelief. Extra time was much different than the last 10 minutes, with Argentina being all over the Netherlands and Enzo Fernández hitting the post with seconds to go before the shootout.
Then, in the shootout, it was Emi Martinez heroics. An epic shootout that saw 2 saves from Emi Martinez and Argentina get past the Dutch 4-3. With time, I think people will realize that this game is an all-time classic.
2009 Champions League Semifinals: Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona (1-1 on aggregate, Barcelona wins on away goals)
This match is known by English fans as the most disgraceful and poorly refereed match of the 21st century. Tom Henning Obrevo of Norway was the referee, let me take you through all the bad calls.
28 minutes in, Dani Alves collided with Florian Malouda in the box and the ref blew for a foul, but gave it as a free kick. Looking back on the replay, I don’t believe it’s a foul. Now, there are two ways to look at this decision. One is that because it wasn’t a foul, and it wasn’t a penalty, the call was correct. The other because it was given as a foul anyway, it should have been a penalty. I’ll go for the first way to look at it.
31 minutes in, a penalty was denied on Didier Drogba. This is the first bad call of the game, Abidal tripped him, and it should have been a penalty to Chelsea.
65 minutes in, Eric Abidal was given a straight red for an apparent challenge on Nicolas Anelka. The truth is that it was a blatant dive, and it should have been a yellow card to Anelka for simulation.
78 minutes in, another penalty for Chelsea was denied, after a battle between Nicolas Anelka and Yaya Toure. In truth this wasn’t a penalty either, Anelka fell down as soon as he got into the penalty area and if the referee really wanted to, he could have given another yellow to Anelka for simulation.
81 minutes in, Chelsea weren’t given a penalty for a Gerard Piqué handball inside the area. This was a penalty. Pique’s hand was in an unnatural position, even though he didn’t notice it, it was a clear penalty.
In the 5th minute of stoppage time, Chelsea appealed for a handball and another penalty, but it came off the armpit area of the arm and it wasn’t a penalty. The real bad call came when Michael Ballack screamed at and interfered with the referee on the counter-attack. That should have been a red card.
A 92nd minute winner by Andrés Iniesta from outside the box secured this game’s status among the best in the 21st century.
2019 Champions League Quarterfinals: Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 Man City (4-4 on aggregate, Tottenham wins on away goals)
Nearly four years old, this match; and it still stands as one of the most thrilling Champions League Quarterfinals to date. Spurs came into the match ahead by one goal to nil after a win at home, and Manchester City needed to start hot, which after Raheem Sterling scored 4 minutes in, seemed like what they had done.
However, a scintillating few minutes by Heung-min Son, who needed to step up in the absence of Harry Kane saw Spurs up 2-1 at the 10-minute mark, seeing City needing 3 to retake the lead.
Bernardo Silva, from kick off, got a goal from a fatal Danny Rose deflection and made it 2-2 before the clock struck 11 minutes. 10 minutes later, Sterling made it 3-2. In the second half, just before the 60-minute mark, Sergio Aguero made it 4-2 and completed an epic comeback. All Man City had to do was hold on.
Fernando Llorente, historically, had other ideas. A corner was whipped in, and came off him and in. A VAR check found out that it had come off his upper leg, not his hand, and the goal stood. It is still a problem point for Man City fans today.
This game sent Spurs through to the Champions League semifinals, which birthed an even better game which you’ll see on the countdown soon.
2022 Champions League Round of 16 – Real Madrid 3-1 PSG (3-2 on aggregate)
After a late Kylian Mbappé winner, PSG were in pole position and cruising in the lead up to the second leg at the Santiago Bernabéu. In the first half, it was an exchange of blows between Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema, a matchup which would define the game. In the 35th minute, a goal by Mbappé was disallowed due to a Nuno Mendes offside in the buildup. However, he made his next chance, which came 5 minutes later, count. 1-0 PSG at the Bernabéu, 2-0 on aggregate. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, it looked like nothing could. Mbappé danced around Tibo Courtois and made it 3 in the 54th minute. Or so he thought. Flag up, still 2-0. With just under 30 minutes left, Nuno Mendes put a routine ball back to Donnarumma. He held it, failed to clear it and got tackled by Karim Benzema who put it to Vinicius, who put it back to Benzema who got a goal back. 1-1 on the night, but it was still 2-1 PSG on aggregate.
16 minutes later, Vinicius was sent running on the counter-attack. When it looked like the chance was gone, he put it to Modric, who put it to Benzema, and his shot took a deflection off Marquinhos and in. Level on aggregate. Wow.
Then, from kickoff, Vinicius was sent running again after a PSG giveaway. Marquinhos attempted to clear it, but Benzema got a foot on it and one touch was all he needed to beat Donnarumma for a third time. 3-1 on the night, 3-2 on aggregate for a scintillating match which sent Real Madrid to the Champions League Quarterfinals.
2022 Champions League Quarter Finals – Real Madrid 2-3 Chelsea (5-4 on aggregate)
After a first leg which saw Chelsea lose 3-1 at Stamford Bridge, a comeback of epic proportions at the Bernabéu was needed to see the defending champions advance. It started that way as Mason Mount got a goal back for Chelsea 15 minutes in.
35 minutes later, Antonio Rüdiger levelled it on aggregate and made Chelsea fans go crazy. 3-3 on aggregate. Then, of all people, MARCOS ALONSO scored Chelsea’s third and made it 4-3 Chelsea on aggregate, 3-0 Chelsea at the Bernabéu. What a match.
No, this wasn’t the full thing. Marcos Alonso’s goal was DISALLOWED due to a handball and all of a sudden, Chelsea were caught out. Real Madrid got chance after chance, but couldn’t convert. A rare Chelsea opportunity, a counter by Timo Werner, saw him get by the whole Madrid team and finally get Chelsea’s third. They could breathe. They had done it.
Or had they? At the 80th minute, Luka Modrić made an all-time pass to Rodrygo and Real Madrid got their goal that would send it to extra time. Chelsea were again, stunned.
Extra time was dispatched of quickly for Real Madrid, as a 96th minute header by Karim Benzema finished off the game. 3-2 Chelsea on the night, but 5-4 Madrid on aggregate.
Those are the honorable mentions. This post is already long, so we’ll end it here, and soon we’ll post games 15-11 on our list. I’m Jim James, until next time!
Oh, before you go: If you want to watch the highlights of these games, I can provide those for you.
Netherlands 2-2 Argentina: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD8EkgnAQG0
Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfAZsx93r_U
Man City 4-3 Spurs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxamwVk2iKs
Real Madrid 3-1 PSG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoGMRu3paM0
Real Madrid 2-3 Chelsea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix3HOF4Qrc8